Fright Night…Tomorrow!

One more sleep until hubby and I host our third annual Fright Night Halloween Party. While October 31st falls on a Friday this year, we decided to hold the party one week earlier because many of our friends have children and will undoubtedly be busy trick-or-treating or manning their candy stations on Halloween. Besides, it’s always nice to throw the party as a build up to the big day. In our case, hubs and I are pretty much run off our feet scaring children on the 31st so throwing a party that evening was no dice! We have a certain reputation to uphold on our street after all, not to mention a growing lynch mob of little neighborhood hobgoblins to please.

I cannot yet reveal what hubby and I will be wearing for the party, but let’s just say that it is beyond AWESOME! This is the first time that hubby has actually agreed to go along with my plans for a couples’ / theme costume. Dressing up is a mandatory part of our evening because we award a trophy for Best Costume – a gawdy tombstone, standing on a wooden base with golden / engraved plaques. Each year we add the name of the new winner to a plaque and they then have the prestigious honour of hiding displaying it in their home until our next party. Despite some wonderful effort and creativity from all our guests, the same family has won the trophy twice. This particular couple takes the competition very seriously and have had the trophy on display in the living room for the past two years. I have no idea what to expect this year, but I have a feeling that the rivalry will be steep! Who knows, maybe hubby and I will be the lucky recipients this year? Fingers crossed…

As with any large party of 20 + people, I will be busy tonight and tomorrow with preparing a huge ghoulish spread for my table. I have tried to pick food that will work well with a Halloween theme but still taste decent and, more importantly, help to absorb large quantities of poison (a.k.a. alcohol). This year’s spooktacular spread will include:

Le spooky menu:

Toxic sludge punch,
Witches hats cookies,
Witches fingers cookies,
Bat chips and blood salsa,
Jack-o-lantern cupcakes,
Orange pita roll-ups
Jack-o-lantern cheese ball with crudités

I realize that this makes me certifiably nuts, but I love tackling a theme head on! Lots of work, but always lots of eating! We usually can’t keep enough food on the table once people have imbibed a few.

Have a fun weekend everyone and don’t forget to decorate your homes for those little kiddies. I’ll be sure to post some pictures from Fright Night on Sunday, provided I survive the whole ordeal…

And no folks...I have not taken up smoking. My only filthy habit is enjoying an annual stogie. As you can see, I decided to play “classy hostess” at last year’s party. Yup, just another regular Saturday night on the patio, dressed as a vampire and enjoying a fat one. Sorry Mom and Dad, I know you tried your best ; )